Understanding the 2009 HMRC Requirements

This topic discusses:

  • Overview of changes

  • EDI

  • General changes

Overview of Changes

Starting in April 2009, medium sized employers with 50 or more employees must send their in-year P45 (1), P45 (3), and P46 transactions online to the HMRC. These changes are part of a larger initiative being undertaken by HMRC to standardize all data fields across all HMRC forms. Certain fields like DOB (date of birth) and Gender were optional in April 2008, but became mandatory starting in April 2009.

The new paper P45 form, which includes the DOB and Gender fields, and the new P46 (Pension), which replaced the P160 and PENNOT, were introduced in April 2009. In April 2008, PeopleSoft implemented several format changes and added new validation rules to address the new requirements. Starting on April 6, 2008, the HMRC began rejecting any in- year submissions sent in the old format.

EDI

Previously all EDI in-year messages were transmitted using the MOVDED Version 3.0 message type. Individual message types have been created, each with their own layout and validation requirements (although much of this is common across the message types). For each of the message types used for in-year filing, a GFF file must be produced to comply with the HMRC EB5 - Message Implementation Guidelines available on the HMRC website.

Validations are specified in the individual MIGs in section 4.0.3. You can find the format changes in the Notes for Software Developers Series 10 - Number 35, which is posted on the same website.

Note: The GFF file that you produce must comply with all formatting and validation in the specifications.

General Changes

Here is a short summary of the changes that were made:

  • The Recipient ID in the GFF 4* Header has been changed from INLAND REVENUE to HMRC.

  • Message types have changed from MOVDED to individual messages: P45PT1, P45PT3, and P46.

  • It is still possible to include all four of the in-year version 5 message types in the same transmission file, although the file must not include messages of a different type (for example, WNU).

  • Many of the new fields are common across all the messages.

  • Previously when a monetary amount for a mandatory field was zero, it was not necessary to report it; however, this is no longer the case. The validation rules against mandatory monetary fields allows for them to be greater than or equal to zero. Therefore all zero monetary values must be reported for mandatory fields.

  • Since the date of birth and gender fields are mandatory beginning April 2009, the system displays a payee warning message when these fields are blank.